The British film 'Fish Tank (2009)', written and directed by the multi-talented award winning actress, writer and director, Andrea Arnold tells the story of a young girl with an aspiration to become a professional dancer. She lives in an unfriendly household with her mother, younger sister, and throughout the film, her mother's cheating boyfriend. With a gross in the UK of £103,180 this film has evidently not achieved much praise in the world of the cinema.
THEMES AND SITUATIONS
'Fish Tank' is a very unique film that expresses the hardships of being in a troubling household and neighbourhood whilst having a dream of escaping. The leading character Mia (played by Katie Jarvis) evidently hates her home life and has no friends whatsoever. We see scenes where she is being hit by her mother, sworn at by her younger sister, sorrowfully watches groups of friends walk across the street/dance together and more. Each of these express how she does not exactly have the most ideal lifestyle for a teenage girl. Arnold cleverly uses this to her advantage as it engages the viewers into a messy situation; we see this leading character in which the entire story is based around go through so much struggle that it enables us to root for her.
This clever use of social realism not only displays what life is actually like in this particular location (Barking), but also denotes an interesting character that the audience will like. I may incorporate this into my film as having characters that the viewers like is a great tool
to having a successful film.
REPRESENTATION
The main character in this film is an underprivileged girl that aspires to become a professional dancer. This character exemplifies the typical Essex girl that does not have a great home life. She talks in a not-so-posh accent and wears the same tracksuit bottoms, hoodie and vest throughout the majority of the film. Although this stereotype is represented quite fairly, as it does denote the typical Barking girl, she does have another side to her. This terrible home life has been presented in the film as a form of motivation to succeed as a dancer. Arnold has decided that in order for the audience to understand a possible reason for Mia's aspirations, we must see the differentiation between her behaviour in both situations. This character is seen with signs of grief and aggression when being held in moments like the scrapyard chase, however her mood transforms into a lighter and free one when she is dancing. This film easily connotes a breaking of the stereotype that even those that seem to be miserable all the time have their reasons and also have moments when they are not.
For my film I may use this technique of comparison as it gives the film a sort of plot twist; in order to engage viewers into the film, a differentiation in plot would be useful, so to have this unique storyline the films credibility can increase.
MISE-EN-SCENE
The use of mise-en-scene in this film is very small as most of it sticks within the stereotypical 'Essex household' range. This includes things such as alcohol bottles, cheap televisions and two little girls with cigarettes in their hand which they actually smoke. These all exemplify how classy the entire film in general is; the fact that every single scene in this film contains some form of working class objects emphasises on the impact that the film has on the audience. This impact is that the viewers are fully aware of the harsh conditions that these characters are in and can understand their actions (swearing, drinking etc.) much more clearly.
These cheap items would benefit my film very much as they would be affordable whilst portraying the correct social realism that I want to obtain.
MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS
The audio heard in this film is very typical for a British social realism movie. We get the sense that the characters live rough lives by the use of songs like "Life's a B*tch" by Hip-Hop artist Nas, a song about how life is not a good thing and that youths get high because of it. This one song is an apt example as it is a great example of everything that the film is about; trying to make the most out of a life that is full of hardships. This song is featured at various points of the film, whether it is diagetic or non-diagetic, and is a great example of how the music exemplifies the class of the film.
A song like this would be great for my own film as it is very urban, something that is quite relatable to the social realism impact I need.
CAMERA WORK AND EDITING
There are a few kinds of shots in this film that portray the low budget that it has. One of them is the fast paced one; this is evidential when Mia is running and the camera is in a hand-held position running along with her. As the film could not afford professional equipment good enough to capture the scene, the rough shots are all that they could do with. Although this may be a disadvantage in terms of what the audience can see, it can be seen as a metaphor for the rough scene that is currently occurring.
Another one that I had noticed was the long takes used in the scene where Mia and her family were dancing in the living room. This long take lasts quite a while as it shows the three bonding. The use of this has a great impact on the information of the budget as it shows that as the company has a small budget a lot of short takes would've costed more time, thus meant more money being spent. The fact that this scene had been completed with ease and still portrayed what the directors wanted as oppose to having short cuts connotes how they possibly could of had saved a lot of money and time when producing it.
I would use both of these for different reasons; if the scene I had was a serious one then I would use the long take as it helps creates that sort of a tone. If I wanted to make a tense one however, a rough hand-held camera shot would be very useful.
DIALOGUE
The dialogue in this film is very unique, especially when compared to the ones in a Hollywood film. There are moments where we see little girls swearing, mothers casually saying "f*ck off" to their daughters, yelling within families and more. All of these help to present the un-classy view that the directors were going for.
INSTITUTIONAL BACKGROUND
This film has received funds from big British institutions such as 'BBC Films', a well known British film company and the 'UK Film Council', a widely fund-giving institution. These companies have helped with films such as "StreetDance 3D (2010)" and "Submarine (2010)". These companies are very well known in their niche markets and do not appeal to a wide audience, hence the reason behind the small appeal that 'Fish Tank' has.
AUDIENCE BREAKDOWN
As I have stated, this film has a niche market, just like its institution. The audience for this film is very clear, those that have aspirations, live in bad conditions and/or those that have big family issues. This film can appeal to them as those aspects are incorporated in the film a lot. Also, those that are fans of music genres like Hip-Hop/R&B may be interested as the soundtrack consists of songs from this area such as "Me & U" by Cassie Ventura.
MARKETING STRATEGY
The lead actress from this film, Katie Jarvis, was said to have been cast for this film in a very peculiar way. She did not immediately audition, she was found yelling down the phone at her boyfriend at a train station in which the casting director had overheard. This great marketing technique can appeal to people as they can see that the film has raw talent, as well as inspiring people to achieve their acting dream more.
Also, the soundtrack contains music from artists such as Jay Sean, someone that has a Bhangra and mainstream following, which can attract more audiences to watch the film.
In British Social Realism films we see themes that are represented in the world being presented to the audiences. There are many themes such as drugs, violence, alcohol, poverty and many more that allow audiences from all over the world (particularly marketed at a British niche audience) to be enlightened on what is currently happening in the world of Britain today. BSR films such as 'This Is England (2006)' help to present what is happening by using scenarios such as asian shop keepers being intruded by a gang of white people that steal and threaten to kill in order to get what they want. This massively links to the real world as this has appeared in the news many times. For example, according to the 'ormskirk' website, two masked and white criminals had entered a corner shop and threatened a member of staff whilst attempting to open a cash register. This is particularly relatable to the subject expressed in the BSR film already mentioned as both scenarios connote racist attacks on corner shop owners in a British environment.
With British Social Realist films there are many themes that are essential to them in order to represent the true identity of the world of Britain today. These themes include violence, swearing, discrimination and the use of drugs. I would say that these are essential as these are the most common themes that occur in a typical British society today. For example, it is very rare for a film whom has an aim of representing a true image of Britain yet would not include characters that swear, smoke/take drugs, discriminate or show any forms of violence. A great example of this is the BSR film titled "Kidulthood (2006)". This film depicts the daily life of a group of 15 year olds growing up in West London. Anyone who has experienced life in West London and would want to portray what the struggles of the region is like would not exactly describe their characters as 'posh'. The struggling side of this area tends to be full of people who fight, swear, steal, smoke and discriminate, so someone that is willing to have a BSR film to present life in this area would most likely not miss these themes out as they are very vital in order to create the real representation. Other themes like child/domestic abuse are quite serious and common, but when compared to things that are used so casually in BSR films (such as swearing and violence), they are not seen as much in today's society.
